The Devil Within
by Akuma-Chibi
Summary: Looking down at the curious file in his hand, he recognized it as one of L's old cases. One that was concluded after only a few days. Why was it in his hands now if the case was closed? There seemed to be a curious "copy-cat" on the prowl...
1. Chapter 1

**The Devil Within**

**Summary: L, Mello, Matt, Watari...Legends that would go no further than the Albino, Near. Looking out the window from his room in the International Special Provisions **_**Force**_** HQ that he manned behind the scenes. Twenty now, and despite being considered an "adult", the world around him still scorned the idea of a teenager running the SPF. No matter his higher intellect. Looking down at the curious file in his hand, he recognized it as one of L's old cases. One that was concluded after only a few days. Why was it in his hands now if the case was closed? There seemed to be a curious "copy-cat" on the prowl...**

**Anime: InuYasha/Death Note**

**Pairing: Kagome/Near**

**Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Romance/Drama**

**Rated: M for Mature Content**

**-x-x-x-**

"_It's red," _a dribble of liquid fell to the cold wood floor, _"no wait, it's blood red," _bare feet walked along a specific path on the floor, _"the iron in hemoglobin gives it that color, it's such a pretty color...blood red. Would it be...hex 650000...or hex 660000. I bet the latter. 660000, it's less oxygenated, so a darker umber blood red seems more appropriate."_ Stopping, crouching down, a hand reached forward, and gentle fingers brushed along soft flesh. Red eyes looked on as a thumb grazed along the cheek it touched, "what do you think?"

"..."

"...hm... not much for conversation, are you. It's alright, I'll ask _him_. He'll know. After all, he's supposed to be _his_ successor, right? Yeah, right." Lifting another hand, light caught the tip of four long metal nails. "One...two...three... and four...this should do nicely, right? Mm, right. Hey, I'll leave you some nice friends to keep you company until they come. Four of them...that's right, it has to be four."

**-x-x-x-**

**(Two Days Later)**

**August 6th, 2012**

"Near?"

Glancing up, Near waited for the sharpshooter to continue, having nothing to say otherwise to the overly concerned detective. His personal bodyguard and one of the most loyal among the members of the SPF, Stephen, was standing not but two feet from him and listening with his eyes focused on the screen he was reading off of. Not that he minded, the man often shared a perspective he at times didn't consider, or simply overlooked.

Matsuda on the other hand, had a habit of pointing out the most obvious of his thoughts, and the most menial. He meant well, and was just as loyal as Stephen, which is why Near was more than content with the man being part of his team. Actually, there was one other reason, the fact that he'd been part of L's Task Force.

It somehow made him feel closer to his predecessor. He thought that Mello might have kept Matsuda around for the same reason...not being able to let go.

Though, Mello would have never admitted it, and neither would Near.

Matsuda held out an envelope with a look of worry etched into his eyes, "this arrived at the police station two weeks and one day ago. They handed it over to the SPF in hopes of us catching a criminal before he strikes again. Apparently, it's a serial killer, unknown MO."

"What's in the envelope?" Near eyed it caustically.

"A crossword, solved by the chief of police. He said that it was pretty much useless to them until after the victim was found killed."

Holding his hand out, he took the envelope and pulled out the crossword. The first thing he took into consideration was the slightly messy handwriting, an annoyed look on his face depicted his thoughts on the chiefs' lack of coordination. Then, he acknowledged the clues, then the answers written, they were correct. Nothing to be said for his pedestrian intelligence. He turned his attention to the date, the numbers...he took it all in. "This seems familiar."

"Familiar?"

"_It may not be an exact replica, but this is undoubtedly comparable."_ Near spoke softly, more to himself as he took in the crossword, "How many bodies?"

"As of this moment? Two,"

"Two? Only two?" Near nodded thoughtfully, "then we've intercepted this case rather early. Did you receive the case file for both victims?"

"Yes," Matsuda sat down across from Near as he pulled his suitcase up onto the table.

Stephen turned away from the computer and looked at Near. The albino caught his eyes, "get ahold of Roger and have him send the file for the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases over. Tell him it's imperative that we have it before the end of the day."

"Understood," Stephen pulled out his phone.

"The first victim," Near looked at the crossword, "...this was sent fifteen days ago? So, that would place the date at July 22nd. The first murder then took place...July 31st?" He looked at Matsuda who was looking through his notepad.

"Mmhm, July 31st, the victim was a male adult, 54 years old. Name―"

"Hitimi, Kagewaki..." he pointed out the name that, while it didn't go in any straight line, crossed over Ginza diagonally, while Kagewaki did the same thing, it crossed over Tower.

"Hey, that's not right though," Matsuda pointed at the name, "it's Hitomi, Kagewaki."

"How disappointing. Our chief needs to better work on his crossword skills."

"Ten down is Ginza Tower, Chuo City...even gave the police an address...July 22th― 722...how many floors does the Ginza Tower have?"

"There isn't a Ginza Tower, the Ginza Wako building has seven floors, however, which has a large clock tower centered on it."

"Ten down; built in 1932, the _blank_ of the Ginza Wako building is the symbol of Ginza?"

"It should be Clock Tower, not Ginza Tower," Matsuda handed a pencil to Near who fixed the answer.

"Six floors, sir."

Matsuda sighed and glanced at Stephen who had pulled up the floor plan for the tower. "Wait, what about the clock?"

"...yes," Stephen zoomed in on the seventh floor, which consisted of the spiraling staircase that wound up to the top of the clock.

"He wasn't found in the clock, so rather than a room 722, perhaps that is the time of death. 7:22am...if we think about it that way. Ten down, and...sixteen across here, an imperial Japanese army during world war two that was formed on February 18th, 1944."

"Thirty-first Army."

"1031..."

"It looks like there is a Suite 1031, should I check to see the name of the last check-in?" Stephen asked.

"Is there really any point? I think it's quite clear who the resident is. Instead, pull up the file on the victim." Near stood up from the seat he'd been curled up, glancing at the time on the screen, he turned back to Matsuda, "we have a new recruit, don't we?"

"Oh! Yeah, she started yesterday. I did her Counterintelligence Polygraph myself since she'll be working in proximity with us. She should be here already, actually." Matsuda frowned as he looked at his watch.

As if those were magically spoken words, a _bleep_ sounded on the door behind Matsuda and the three turned to see a frazzled young girl walking in, her hair windswept in a messy bun as she shut the door behind her.

"Kagome, you're late."

She blushed, "yeah, sorry about that. You know, my badge didn't work at the front entrance, so I had to go around back, for one reason or another it worked there."

He held his hand out and she handed over her badge. "I'll get it looked at and test it before returning your badge."

She bowed, "thank you,"

"Higurashi?"

"Hm?" She turned and smiled, "Higurashi, Kagome. I prefer to go by my first name, if you don't mind."

"It's no problem," Near said, a hand found a lock of his hair as he averted his eyes and began twirling it. Walking away from the girl who looked on curiously at him, he felt relieved when she turned her attention to the room itself.

"Cool, this place has everything! Whoa, you guys even have your own _in-house_ Biometric Identification System, that's top of the line FBI merch!" She brought her fingers together, grinning as she moved closer to the BIS machine. "I want to play with this so badly,"

"Kagome, please don't touch anything expensive."

The sad look that crossed her eyes as she turned to look at Matsuda, cut hard as the Detective quickly turned away and cleared his throat.

"I'll go get this taken care of, please get to know one another in my absence." He handed the files for the aforementioned case to Stephen bowed to Near before excusing himself.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three remaining figures stared at one another, for Stephen and Near's part, they simply didn't know how to react to the newest addition to their team. For Kagome's part, she wasn't sure how to respond to the silence and social awkwardness that was painfully obvious to them all.

Smiling, she walked forward and circled a tower of tiny dice. "Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, outstanding attention to detail, right down to the observatory on the 45th floor." She crouched down onto her knees and bent forward to look inside the small space that was meant to be the rotational doors on the first floor. "You should have put tiny people inside."

"No one would see them, since no one looks inside."

Kagome smiled, sitting up as she turned to Near who was eyeing her curiously, "I did."

He nodded, "yes, you did. You're kind of strange,"

Stephen glanced at Near as though he wanted to say something but changed his mind as he took a step towards Kagome and held his hand out. Helping her up, he introduced himself. "Stephen Loud, or you can call me Gevanni."

"Giovanni?"

"Uh, no...Gevanni."

She looked at him thoughtfully, "ah―Gevanni. The name refers to someone who can complete an incredible feat in a short amount of time. Like..." she eyed the tower of dice, "building a miniature version of the TMG out of dice in a matter of a few days."

Near glanced at the tower, it was something he'd started last night, but he wasn't out for praise. "Using an Alias is still advisable when working, though between your colleagues, it shouldn't be a problem to refer to one another by your first names. However, I am still Near."

Kagome nodded, "but that means you have a name too, right? Does anyone know it?"

"No, the only ones who did are dead."

"That's kind of sad," she let her hand fall from Stephen's, "at least one person should know you by name," She picked up a die, "I wouldn't be me without my name, I think. You should try building the Museo Internacional del Barroco in Puebla, Mexico. It was designed by an acclaimed Japanese Architect, Tokyo Ito. Unlike this, it may prove more of a challenge..."

Insulted, he felt insulted. No, he hadn't been looking for praise, but he certainly wasn't looking for a jab at his dice tower! The ruffled look on his face had been enough to have him turn away so not to reveal it to anyone else. "I don't particularly feel that the Tower I built was easy, but let's get off the topic. We were going to head out to the Ginza Wako and look at _their_ architecture."

Stephen glanced in-between the newest recruit to Near's personal team, and Near himself. To see Near hackled was quite a treat, but that the girl could do so in under twenty minutes of being introduced, was also a feat to be recognized.

"Ginza Wako?"

"Mm,"

"Oh, Daddy helped design the Ginza Wako!"

Both Stephen and Near turned their eyes to Kagome. This was certainly an interesting development.

**-x-x-x-**

**Me: Here is chapter one of The Devil Within. Not gonna lie, this chapter has been up on my laptop for about two weeks, with me going back and forth, changing dates, ages, names, relations and even the plot itself. I hope I can turn and twist a few of your braincells in the process of this stories uncovering, let me know what you think and have a Merry Christmas!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Devil Within**

**Summary: L, Mello, Matt, Watari...Legends that would go no further than the Albino, Near. Looking out the window from his room in the International Special Provisions ****_Force_**** HQ that he manned behind the scenes. Twenty now, and despite being considered an "adult", the world around him still scorned the idea of a teenager running the SPF. No matter his higher intellect. Looking down at the curious file in his hand, he recognized it as one of L's old cases. One that was concluded after only a few days. Why was it in his hands now if the case was closed? There seemed to be a curious "copy-cat" on the prowl...**

**Anime: InuYasha/Death Note**

**Pairing: Kagome/Near**

**Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort/Romance/Drama**

**Rated: M for Mature Content**

**-x-x-x-**

'_Help, I lost myself again, but I remember you...don't come back, it won't end well. But I wish you told me, too.' _Kagome couldn't help singing along to the song, albeit, not out loud. She considered the idea that her music choice might be bothering those in the car with her, but she was driving, and didn't care to ask.

"You mentioned that your father is an Architect."

Bringing her hand up, she muted her music. "Was. My father died nearly almost ten years ago on the dot."

Near filed this away, "when did he die?"

"What, like the date?" She frowned as she slowed to a stop at a red light. "August 9th of 2002. My family and I had to go to Los Angeles to ID the body. According to the police report and autopsy, there was an accident at one of the construction sites of a building he'd been the lead Designer for. He was there for a couple months; my dad was something of a perfectionist and liked to see his work through to the end. Blunt force, skull fracture, internal bleeding. My dad died quickly, but I don't feel confident in saying that he died without pain." She pressed down on the gas as the light turned green, "a beam hadn't been fastened and secured properly, and that was what delivered the killing blow."

"You read the police report?"

"I was there when the police spoke to my mother. She was a Forensics Specialist and for a time, she even worked in the Violent Crime Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Your mother worked for the FBI?" Stephen looked surprised.

"Not anymore, but she did, yes. Ah, we're here." She pulled into a parking spot near the front of the Ginza Waka. The clock tower was the first thing they noticed as they climbed out of the unmarked black car. "Was there a specific room that we were going to?"

"1031."

She pulled her phone out with a frown and touched the screen, watching it light up, she touched lightly on a messenger app and frowned. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt her muscles tense as she felt herself begin to panic. Kagome looked over at Near, her eyes slightly widened. "You are positive?"

"There is less than a 30 percent chance that I am wrong. Why?"

"I received a text from my grandfather on the 28th of July, we met up for lunch. He wanted to wish me luck in person, and... well, talk. He was staying here, in room 1031." She pressed the call button and shook her head as it went straight to voice mail. "Who is it? You have a name, right? I didn't get to see the case file since I arrived, and you haven't mentioned any names."

Near looked at Stephen who held out the case file for her. Near had looked it over while in the car, but he'd kept quiet while reading it through.

Her eyes trailed over the cover page, eyes wide and wet with tears. "...but I just saw him."

"Would you like to stay out in the car, Kagome?"

"Absolutely not!" She held the file out and let Stephen take it back. Turning on the boys, she forgot to lock the car as she made her way towards the Hotel. Her eyes brimming in tears, desperately fighting them back as she tried to breath in calming breaths.

_**-x-x-x-**_

_**Flashback**_

_July 28__th__, 2012_

"_**Oh, Kagome. Look at you..." a gentle smile, warm brown eyes and long crimped black and gray hair. Kagewaki Hitomi, her grandfather, stood up to greet her as she walked in.**_

"_**Grampa!"**_

"_**You've grown up so much since I last saw you."**_

"_**Have I?" She guessed she couldn't tell, but then, she hadn't been without a mirror for five years, so her growth over that time wouldn't be much of a shock to her. "I guess I have a little. How have you been?"**_

"_**Well enough, the Kami's grant me love, and the goods of nature. I have no complaints."**_

_**She smiled, sitting down across from him, she made to say something when a small box was laid down on the table before her. "What's this for?"**_

"_**A gift, for your new job."**_

"_**You heard about it?! Mama talks too much, I haven't even gotten the job yet! I did the CI Polygraph only yesterday..."**_

_**He smiled, "trust in Kami, and he shall be your guide in life.**_ _**Ocean thousand, mountain thousand...child."**_

_**She wasn't so sure about his choice in idioms, but still, she felt thankful for his unwavering confidence in her. "Thank you, Grandpa." She opened the box and her eyes widened, "Isn't this supposed to go to one of the other Shrine Keepers? I turned down my training as a Miko, remember?"**_

"_**I remember, but I know of no one who is better suited to protect this keepsake."**_

"_**Grandpa..."**_

"_**Truly, you have grown up to be a good person. I guess that's to be expected, though. After all, you are your mother and father's daughter. Kagome, see life through earnestly and stay strong despite whatever hardships may follow."**_

_**End Flashback**_

_**-x-x-x-**_

"Excuse me, I'm Detective Higura, with the SPF. Is your manager around? I'd like to take a look at room 1031."

The woman glanced up and paused mid-typing. "One moment, let me get him. Please take a seat in the lobby area."

Kagome turned to see Near and Stephen, neither were bothering to do as told. They stood beside her and made it clear to the woman that they'd wait right where they were until she brought her manager out to meet with them. Fidgeting with her fingers, she tried hard to not think about her grandfather. So many thoughts, however, passed around restlessly in her head.

_**Why had no one called her?**_

_**How come she was finding out like this, at work? The first case she'd take on as a member of the SPF.**_

_**Did her family even know yet?!**_

_**Was he murdered, or was it a natural death?**_

No, she saw the case, even if only for a moment. She saw the summed-up report on the first page, and the headshot of her grandfather.

"Hello, welcome to the Ginza Waka,"

Kagome turned as a well-dressed gentleman walked out and nodded her head to him. "Thank you. Are you the manager?"

"I am, yes. Your names?"

"Higura, and this is Giovanni and Near. Were you here the night that Kagewaki Hitomi was found?"

"I was also the one who found the late Mr. Hitomi's body in his room." He paused, glancing to the elevator as it made a sound before opening its doors to an old couple as they stepped out. "Let us take this to the room, shall we?"

The group followed in silence, all with thoughts of their own running rampant through their heads.

**-x-x-x-**

**(Elsewhere)**

"_It's not time yet...when? Tomorrow is good...no? No." _It was silent for a moment. Sitting in the dark, a figure dipped a spoon into a jar of red jam. Shadows cast dangerously, yet alluringly around the form of this undiscernible figure. _"The 13__th__? August 13__th__...that's a Monday. I dislike Mondays. I should do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is a Tuesday, no one would ever think of committing a Murder on a Tuesday."_

_**Clink!**_

_**Clink!**_

_**Clink!**_

"_You really want it to be on Monday? I guess, but just this once. The first one was on a Tuesday...Tuesday's are good. Or Saturdays. The second one was on a Saturday. Back then, when was it? When did one, two and three die?" _A smile formed, what little light had snuck into the darkened room, cast down at an angle on the smile, as crooked as it was. _"Oh, I see...Wednesday, Saturday and... Tuesday. I thought so. Tuesday really is the best. Say, I'm out of Strawberry Jam, I should go and get another jar. Oh, what color is strawberry jam? What shade of red is it?"_

_**Clink!**_

_**Clink!**_

_**Clink!**_

"_...you think so? 8B171A...hm, and what color is blood, do you think? 660000, or 650000? Hehehe~! HAHAH!"_

**-x-x-x-**

**Me: So...ekhm, this is chapter 2. I hope you all enjoy. I wonder if I should be posting this kind of a story on Christmas Day, but, well...sigh, it is what it is, I guess. I HOPE YOU ENJOY! Review, and have a Merry Christmas!**


End file.
